Swiftcurrent Creek copper

arlette did not press. it was part of what made her a good yatiri. they had not known each other for any time and already muskrat believed this.

she tested the splint as she stood, taking her weight onto her other legs with a gait that set hitched sideways a little.

muskrat did not say goodbye. she would see arlette again, and did not feel the need for a formal departure as she went back to her pile of branches beside the creek, nothing more than a beaver's home out of which she had chased the residents after eating one of them.